1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antiperspirant/deodorant composition in the form of a solid stick. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel antiperspirant/deodorant composition that surprisingly combines desirable attributes of prior art preparations into a cosmetically elegant product which heretofore has been unattainable for the reason of incompatibility between the acidic antiperspirant ingredients and the alkaline solid stick base.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been known in the art for many years to prepare various cosmetic compositions, including deodorants and antiperspirants, in stick form. The various compositions prepared in stick form include wax-based sticks, stearyl alcohol-based suspension sticks, multiphase systems and pressed powder sticks. In still other compositions of the prior art, variations and modifications were imposed upon the types of compositions mentioned, such as strict particle size requirements of the active ingredients or substitution of gellants used.
Notwithstanding their desirable attributes the aforementioned sticks exhibit some drawbacks. The wax-based sticks employing a large amount of nonvolatile long-chain hydrocarbons tend to form a wax layer when applied to the skin and thereby prevent intimate contact between the antiperspirant ingredient contained therein and the body fluid. Stearyl alcohol based sticks consisting substantially of polydimethylcyclosiloxanes lack the desired cooling effect characteristic of the alcoholic cologne sticks. Production of multiphase systems, used primarily for preventing interaction between the inherent acidity of the antiperspirant salts and the inherent alkalinity of the base used as carrier, is energy- and time-intensive and the components in the finished product tend to bleed or leak causing destructive interaction between the phases. Pressed powder technology, though appropriate for cosmetic systems such as eyeliners and rouges, has been successfully employed in antiperspirant system because of the glazing or crusting effect found to exist when the product is used in normally wet areas such as the axilla.
The need is apparent for an antiperspirant/deodorant cosmetic stick that incorporates characteristics such as stick integrity, after-feel, payout properties, high degree of cosmetic elegance similar to that of a sodium stearate based cologne deodorant stick, lack of tackiness, ease of formulation that is not energy- and time-intensive, and is of one phase having incorporated therein both a deodorant and an antiperspirant.